Happy New Year

So I hear this "blog" thing is what you're supposed to do when you go abroad, so your parents know you're alive, and your friends can have a sense of what you're actually doing in "where...Morocco? No, Spain right?" Actually, just a little south, in Senegal. The plan in this West African nation, is to spend the spring studying with SIT, which stands for School for International Training. My specific program is called "Senegal: National Identity and the Arts," which is wonderfully unrelated to my major in Economics. I say this not because I wish I had another major, but because going abroad is a time when we get to experience a different culture, language and life - so I might as well experience a different academic course-load.

The program starts in Dakar. (My flight from Portland to Dakar has one layover, in DC. This is a crazy idea for me to understand, as my trip from home to school generally involves just one layover as well, but this time I'm going a little further east). We stay in Dakar for a total of 6 weeks, and have 2 week long rural home stays. For the last four weeks of the program each student is able to create his or her own independent study project - based on something we've found interesting during our initial studies - and can stay anywhere we'd like (at least this is my understanding so far...)

What we're actually studying includes two languages (French and Wolof - the language of the largest ethnic group in the region), and as the title of the term suggests - national arts, dances, religion and other cultural activities. Senegal is 95% Muslim, but it is well known for its cultural tolerance, and acceptance of Christianity.

If you don't know where Senegal is, unfortunately you are not alone in that all 8th grade lessons of world geography have been lost. Senegal - roughly the size of South Dakota - lies on the western coast of Africa, 14 degrees north of the equator. So fortunately it will be springtime there as well, only a lot hotter, sunnier, and more humid...I think yesterday it was 94% humidity in Senegal. Coming from a pretty dry Portland, OR that may be somewhat of an adjustment..

So that was a fun test run. Thanks for reading this. Don't worry, next post I may actually be in Senegal, and will hopefully have more interesting things to say.